The present invention relates to a transport and transfer system for personnel, and more particularly to a personnel transfer system for use when transferring crews from crew boats to offshore platforms, from one vessel to another, or from other spaced apart locations such as building roofs, heliports, etc.
Transporting crew members to and from offshore platforms is one of the necessary operations that involve the use of service vessels. Personnel is usually transported to the offshore platform location and then lifted to the platform deck using ropes, rope ladders, open lift platforms where the persons stand while the platform is raised from the service vessel to the platform deck, and other such unstable equipment. Wind and wave action considerably complicate this dangerous operation.
One of the more widely used methods of transferring crew members to and from the boats to platforms is for the crane operator on the platform to drop a fabric basket to the deck of the vessel, have the personnel throw their personal belongings and equipment into the middle of the basket and then grab the outside of the basket and lock their arms into the webbing of the basket. The crane operator then rapidly pulls the basket back up to the platform.
The reverse method when transporting personnel to the boat is to have the personnel throw their personal belongings into the basket, grab the outside of the basket and lock their arms into the webbing of the basket and have the crane operator very rapidly pull the basket and swing it on top of the boat's deck. The personnel transported in the basket need to release the basket before the crane lifts it as there is great danger in being tangled and pushed overboard.
Sparrows Engineering Group developed the Toro and the Frog personnel transfer capsules but these are at best seated versions of the cloth personnel baskets.
Helicopters have been serving the oil industry for over fifty years. The Gulf of Mexico oil field employs some 600 helicopters. Helicopters fly mostly during the day pursuant to Visual Flight Requirements (VFR) and fly up to 200 miles offshore, as deep water exploration, drilling, and production become increasingly practical. The helicopters are very expensive to operate and can only operate in the best weather conditions. Additionally helicopters can only carry a few passengers at a time.
The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with conventional personnel transfer systems and provision of an improved system that is safe and effective in offshore and other operations.